Advice needed for some new projects

[Grandad-5]

Since hijack seems to be continuing I might add something for your benefit Paul that you may like.
My family all arrived here from Canada in 1960. Prior to our leaving we spoke to several ex-pat Aussies to get a feel for where we should settle.
One fellow summarised the major cities in this way. (Remember, this was 1960!)
In Sydney they'll ask you where you live. In Melbourne they'll ask what school your son goes to, In Brisbane they'll want to know how much money you have and in Adelaide what church do you go to.
In Perth, they'll say "Come in and have a beer"
I've always wanted to see Perth!
Jim

[Horsecroft88]

heh heh Jim et al, no dramas from me re thread hijacks. For sure Lawry, bring a big wallet is all I can say if you want the really good stuff. Mind you there also are bargains if you know what you are looking for.

Now re around the Country, what can I say, I think Melbourne is a great place to visit, love all the laneways, cafes, food markets etc, and down at Port Melbourne/St Kilda is always good. Then of course there is the Yarra Valley and also the Great Ocean road, as a petrol head and appalling surfer enough said, oh and they have mountains to ski on, so as a skier that suits me. Ditto Sydney, what a harbour, plenty of interesting places in the city, blue mountains, the alps, up around Byron or down south along the coast also really enjoyable. I am sure there is so much more but I havn't seen it yet.

Queensland, especially Brisvagas, Adelaide and Perth, I have no idea as havn't really been to these places, yet. But I will one day, the vineyards etc of SA so appealing ditto WA. Not sure what is up in Queensland, suspect I need educating.

Down here in Tas, ditto there is plenty to see from the old colonial buildings, etc small villages, to the wildness of the mountains, the rugged but scenic west coast to the beaches of the east coast. The food and wine down here is excellent. I am not kidding.

However, let me tempt you all with a picture I took down at the dockside in Hobart the other night. Where some of the Sydney-Hobart yachts end up being moored, with the old stone buildings in the background (part of the museum complex). Right back to work and later more woody stuff. Dave

[pmcgee]

A couple pics stolen harvested off the internet that might be of interest ...

They were here: MODERN CARPENTER JOINER and CABINET-MAKER 8 VOLS G.L. SUTCLIFFE ROY UNDERHILL | eBay

Paul

[Lawry01]

Dave...how are you progressing? You've been a bit quiet...I'm concerned...all OK? Lawry

[Horsecroft88]

Hi Lawry all ok mate, just been really busy at work and on the weekends of late to have really any time for my projects. Most of this week I was away up the northwest of the state for work. Am hoping for a little time this weekend to finally get on with the structural repair to the leg. I managed to get the dowls and a drill bit (but went looking for this last night, and couldn't find it. Grrr). So might have to buy another one if I can't.

All I have managed to do of late to the table is some gentle rubbing back (light sanding) and further polishing of the underside and legs of the table. All about trying to get the colour better blended between the original and the sections that needed to be stripped back and repolished. All looking really good so far. I will take some more photos and post these shortly. But I really want to show the leg repair, so must bite the bullet.

Thanks Paul re the "harvested details" re different finish techniques, appreciated, always good to learn.

[Horsecroft88]

Just a further quick update. Been somewhat busy of late with other things to have much time to work on the projects, but finally managed to get a little bit more done on the small table over the weekend. So on Saturday night, I drilled the holes for the dowels to be inserted into the legs of the table for the repair. Making sure of course that the holes and dowels lined up. With my limited experience and tools etc, it was a little tricky but thankfully it mostly worked out ok. So I glued the dowel into the main part of the leg, and then pushed the broken leg part onto it. A little pursuasion from Mr Hammer to make sure it was tight helped. Thereafter, I inserted two screws from the underside of the leg to the leg base, and clamped (as per the pic shows), and left to dry/harden over night.

Yesterday after a day working out at the country property rebuilding the fireplace in the kitchen I removed the clamp to see if it had worked and thankfully it has. I inserted a little more of the extra strong wood work glue into the drill holes for the screws, and also the join. Later on I puttied these up with cedar wood putty, and again left overnight to harden. All going well tonight, I might get a chance to sand off the repair areas, to see how it all looks, and can thereafter continue with the build up of colour/shellac coats.

All three legs now of the table have been sanded back and re-shellacing has started. Once I am happy with this, I will start on the table top, stripping it back and then re-shellacing. Once this is complete, then for the super fine steel wool cutting back and bees wax polishing and one more project for the completed list. Will update as more progress is achieved.

[Lawry01]

Looking good Dave...I'm also getting a few ideas here for my current small piano stool project. By the way..what glue are you using (cos I need to do some glueing on the stool, and need it to not be visible) Also good to hear you're progressing on the property. Would love tosee some WIP pics of that too! Lawry

[Horsecroft88]

Hi Lawry, I saw your post re your next project but was somewhat time limited by work needing my attention. I was going to come back to your project to see if there were any comments I could add apart from its looking like a good project to be working on etc etc

Re the glues I am using, I think I might have noted the names of the glues in one of the early postings on this thread, but if not I can note them down tonight and post the details. One is a Sellys' product, it is opaque when it comes out of the bottle but for some strange reason changes opacity to go a milky colour, and seems to bubble up a bit. You need to clean that off, but it glues things rock hard. The other one (can't recall the manufacturer), looks a lot like PVA when it comes out of the bottle but doesn't seem to leave a coloured residue. Again it too seems to be very strong. PVA has its uses but for structural repairs, from my experience I am not convinced it is that fantastic.

Re the country house project. Oh boy, ahm yes I have photos,........lots of them. But I don't wish to bore anyone to death re this. What I might do is just attach a few to show current repairs I am making to the fireplace in the kitchen etc. I have just about completed all the wood polishing, construction etc etc in the kitchen. Just a few things now to finish off and have the appliances fitted. Need that Plumber and Sparky to come out and do their stuff.

With the fireplace, it had when we bought the house an old wood heater that was stuffed. So we had that romoved and basically what we found was the old fireplace was in poor condition. The base was all loose rubble, broken bricks etc. while the sides need to be repointed etc. So I layed a gravel base, thereafter a bed of mortor and repaired what was left of the original base that I could leave in place. I then needed to clean up a pile of bricks (convict ones, complete with thumb prints), and have just about now finished off a two layer high base. I have made it as level as I can. Next I need to remove the old steel bar that is in the wrong place, re-point the sides and rear of the fire place, and repair the arch. Using lime based mortar for this sort of work.

The other photos show the front lounge room, which has had a complete new baltic pine floor installed, new bearers etc. We insulated the floor, have installed re-claimed skirtings, timber work is all stripped and polishing has started. However, also I need next to sort out the original and re-paired plaster work, before I can paint the room. The fireplace in this room was in terrible condition, with major damp problems. Anyway those problems have been sorted now.

The shot in the bedroom also shows a timber bed base that the other half is making for us, we previously restored the old brass and cast iron bed she found at the local tip shop, it should all work out ok.

The other photos are one looking towards the pantry and then a shot looking across to where the stove will be installed. What I should do is either start a house resto thread to show the before during and completed stages to give people the full story.

[Horsecroft88]

Ok, a few photos from the kitchen rennos, as mentioned above. Both as now and what we started with. See if you can spot the difference

[Horsecroft88]

Some further pics of from the bedroom (now restored) the bathroom complete with restored claw and ball bath, as well as a really unusual handmade (Regency) Tas oak and cedar mantle, and a shot of the kitchen door and new window, baltic reveals etc. Again all hand stripped and polished. I think you will see how from these snaps how it is starting to come together.

[Lawry01]

Ok, a few photos from the kitchen rennos, as mentioned above. Both as now and what we started with. See if you can spot the difference

I am suitably impressed!!!!! Oh, and yes, I can spot the difference.......the defining giveaway is the 'Oh my God..What IS this???' look on (I presume) your lovely lady's face!! - A surefire way to get support for your continued and pending efforts!! You have the 'Before" pic, now you need the 'After" shot of her looking so excitedly at your labours!

And yes, no doubt there will be a few keen to see a separate thread on your renos. I left renovating behind 20 years ago when we refurbished and added to our old 1920's property when we lived in Melbourne!

cheers, Lawry
ps I'll go back on the thread for the glue options.....need the bond to be quite strong, particularly as I'm wanting to re-set the hinges on the cracked section.

[Horsecroft88]

heh heh, thought you might just spot the difference Lawry, it certainly is a change from the OMG what have we done buying the place (yes correct that is the other half) !!! thoughts that occurred to me at least, after handing over the $$$$ to purchase it. The change is definitely the result of plenty of more $$$, time, hard work by both the builder/sparky/plumber and us. But it is pleasing to see the results come up as well as they have. Now to get on with more of it.

This is the second major house restoration/rennovation I have tackled also over the past 20 years. The first being where we live, which is an 1850 property (in the city). It too when purchased gave me plenty of the OMG what have I have done moments. The happiness for me is looking back on what has been achieved.

Well this morning before heading off to work, I sanded back the leg repair section, coarse to fine and cleaned off the dust to see how it all came up. Next for re-polishing this section, plus finish off the shellacing of the legs. Then for the top to be stripped back and re-polished.

However, a milestone moment today, for the Table now stands on 3 legs, with out ironmongery and a myriad of rusty screws holding it all together. It felt good to see it like that and thankfully it feels both firm, and not out of balance. So I think I have managed to repair it reasonably correctly. See pics from this morning below.

[Horsecroft88]

Some more close up pics of the repaired section. You can quite clearly see that one of the other legs previously has also broken and been repaired. So obviously a weak area in the design. No heavy objects therefore to be placed on this table in future.

Now for stripping and re-polishing the top and finishing the legs, the home straight. Phew Will post more pics as we complete this project.

Re the glues used: Selleys Durabond (Super durable wood working glue) and Anchor Weld (AVS) Timber and other timber products adhesive.

[Lawry01]

Dave, table looking good. I like the simple elegence in it..this one will come up a treat I reckon! Good to hear the repairs have worked so well, and as either you or WW once said to me...antiques must always be treated with care. Resoration to 'original' look doesnt correlate with original resilience! A point worthy of being reminded of! Wellloff you go and finish this one off. I'll be heading into the depths of stool seat reupholstering in the next day or two. Cheers, L

[Horsecroft88]

Thanks Lawry, appreciated. Yes quite correct one should always treat antiques with respect, especially when doing any restoration work on them. I know what you mean the simple elegance of this table. The beauty in this piece is not the price that was paid for it, which was not much, eg $70-80. But rather that with some TLC it can be repaired and once more be both a useful but nice addition to one's home. For me everytime I bring back to life a piece of furniture that was once lovely but over time had become sad/poor condition I gain much personal satisfaction. I am sure you too understand this given what you previously achieved with your English oak desk, let alone the new projects you are working on. Quick progress report, over the past couple of nights I have been rebuilding up the colour and shellac coating on the legs of the table. The repairs being now far less obvious. No pics today. I think that I am nearly finished with that stage. So next for the top, will start on this tonight. Hope the seat upholstery is likewise going well. Cheers dave